Just like Quiara Alegría Hudes and Lin Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights put the largely Dominican-American neighborhood of Washington Heights in New York City on the map, Tom Waldman and James Holvay hope to do the same for Boyle Heights, California with their new musical Eastside Heartbeats directed by Steve E. Feinberg. Eastside Heartbeats is currently running at Casa 0101 until the 29th of May.
Eastside Heartbeats is based on the book Land of a Thousand Dances: Chicano Rock and Roll from Southern California written by David Reyes, (who is also a producer and did music and lyrics) and Waldman. Eastside Heartbeats is loosely based on the East Los Angeles band Cannibal and the Headhunters, and tells the story of the fictional characters of Jimmy Ramirez (Kenneth Miles Ellignton Lopez) and his four-man vocal band, The Eastside Heartbeats. The group has conquered the 60’s era East L.A. musical scene but Jimmy has set his sight on bigger and better things — they aim to be #1 in the nation. The Eastside Heartbeats, like so many of the E.L.A. bands at the time, want to be superstars!
Lopez including the actors that make up the Eastside quartet Marco Infante (Mario), Jesse Maldonado Salgado (Andy) and Matthew Ramos (Ronnie) are either singing, dancing or planning for the big time non-stop from the opening number to the closing song and dance. Lopez shines as both the leader of the band and as a talent. He is always on the money with his singing, acting, and his dancing, a triple threat, as they say on Broadway.
As a member of the enthusiastic audience, I was thrilled to finally see a musical about a community I grew up in. As a matter of fact, two doors down from Casa 0101 was the first house I lived in growing up in this mostly Mexican-American neighborhood. At that time I was not aware that there was a Mexican-American band that had opened for the Beatles, having opened for them at some of the most prestigious venues, like the Hollywood Bowl, as Cannibal and the Headhunters did. Now here on stage, was the story that was the cause for so much pride to the residents who grew up in Boyle Heights in the early 60’s – ’80s.
Director Feinberg told me the plan is to take Eastside Heartbeats to Broadway. The timing couldn’t be better. Chicano artists from East L.A. who made the national charts, bands like Thee Midniters, The Premiers, The Salas Brothers, and The Blendells. Cannibal & the Headhunters with their song Land of a Thousand Dances, were one of the breakout bands whose song prompted the Beatles to label them the “Na na na na na” and had their manager call and inquire if the band would like to be their opening act. The East LA band also made a stop the most popular national show for music acts at that time, Dick Clark’s American Bandstand. The pride of East LA, yet the story has never been told until now, with Cannibal & the Headhunters serving as the inspiration.
The cast of just one shy of twenty actors, and is a mix of standout performances and the most energetic cast I have seen in a while. Doing a musical is as demanding as it is fun to do and all the actors were up for the task.
The 60’s aura and look for the production all came together with the “groovy” fun set design by Cesar Retana-Holguin, the “super fab” choreography by Urbanie Lucero, the “outta sight” costumes by Julius Bronola, the “trippy” lighting by Jose Lopez, and the onstage band featuring Gary St. Germain, James Holvay, Christian Burrolla, Chris Diaz and Peter A. Zavala, that was just plain “righteous & groovy”.
If you like musical history, if you like Chicanos and their music (or you want to find out what this is), if you like musicals, then you need to check out Eastside Heartbeats…before it takes off to Broadway!
Eastside Heartbeats is a Brown Fist Productions in association with Casa 0101. Book by Tom Waldman, Musica & Lyrics by James Holvay, additional music and Lyrics by David Reyes and Rudy Salas. Directed by Steve E. Fienberg. Produced by Maria Elena Yepes, and Fienberg, Waldman, and Reyes.
Starring Kenneth Miles Ellington Lopez, Marco INfante, Jesse Maldonado, Matthew Ramos, Gabriel Gonzales, Diana Castrillon, Angel Galvan, Bernardita Nassar, Jordan Charles & Jahmaul Bakare.
Featuring Katie Kitani, Taleen Shrikian, April Sheets, Andrew Joseph Perez, Sebastian Gonazalez, Vanessa Benavente, Tatiana Gomez, Benjamin Perez, Efrain Garabay & Isabel Serrano.
For tickets call the Casa 0101 box office at 323-263-7684 or e-mail them at tickets@casa0101.org, or buy online at www.casa0101.org. The Casa 0101 Theater is located at 2102 East First Street (at St. Louis Street across the street from Hollenbeck Police Station in Boyle Heights, CA 90033.
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